Category: Today

Will boycott local polls unless assured protection for Article 35A: National Conference

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Days after National Conference appealed the people to vote in the upcoming municipal and Panchayat elections, the party Wednesday said it will not participate the elections unless the government of India and the state government assure protection for Article 35A. President of NC, Farooq Abdullah announced the decision after chairing a meeting of the core group, the party’s highest decision making body in which challenges to article 35A were also discussed. “The core group unanimously decided that National Conference will not participate in these (Panchayat and ULB) elections unless and…

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Kashmir On Edge: Strike halts life across Kashmir, Chenab Valley, Pirpanjal

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Article 35A Row: Protests across Kashmir, restrictions in Srinagar parts, Separatists caged, SC hearing today Normal life was badly hit in Kashmir, Chenab valley and Pir Panjal region on Thursday due to the unprecedented shutdown following a strike called by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) against the challenging of Article 35-A, the hearing of which is scheduled for Friday in the Supreme Court (SC). While authorities imposed restriction in Srinagar downtown, people largely observed civil curfew in protest against the attempts of tinkering with Article 35-A that provides special rights and privileges…

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Supreme Court to hear Article 35A case on Friday, Guv, State to urge SC to defer hearing

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A bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Article 35-A has been listed for hearing on Friday. The petitions would be heard by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India DipakMisra in the court No. 1, commonly known as Chief Justice’s court. Two other judges of the bench are Justice A M Khanilwar and Justice Chandrachud. The petitions figure at serial number 18 among the cases listed for August 31. The petitions are being heard at a time when new Governor Satya Pal Malik has taken…

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Kashmir issue can’t be resolved with bullets: Narendra Modi

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Repeating the words used last year on Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said Kashmir’s problems could be resolved only by embracing its people, not with bullets or abuses. In his speech on the 72nd Independence Day at the Red Fort here, he said his government was following the teachings of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. “Atalji called for ‘insaniyat’ (humanity), ‘Kashmiriat’ (eclectic Kashmiri culture) and ‘jamhooriyat’ (democracy). I also said that the issues in Kashmir could be resolved by embracing the people of Kashmir.” Modi…

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Anxiety deepens as SC defers hearing on constitutional validity of Article 35A

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The Supreme Court today said that a three-judge bench would decide whether the pleas challenging Article 35A, which provides special rights and privileges to the natives of Jammu and Kashmir, should be referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for examining the larger issue of alleged violation of the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A Khanwilkar adjourned the crucial hearing on as many as five petitions “to the week commencing from August 27” on the grounds that they pertained to…

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Kashmir on edge – Kashmir, Chenab Valley shuts to protect Article 35A

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Separatists caged; Amarnath yatra, train service suspended Normal life came to a grinding halt in Kashmir and parts of Chenab Valley due to strike called by Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) to protest against any tinkering with Article 35-A, which grants special privileges to residents of the State. Shops, business establishments and fuel stations in Srinagar and other parts of the Valley remained closed. The public and private transport was off the roads. Even three-wheelers were off the roads across the Valley. The contingents of police and CRPF men were deployed…

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Kashmir braces for shutdown ahead of SC hearing on Article 35A, Protests held in Kashmir, Poonch, Rajouri, Kishtwar

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Kashmir is bracing for street protests and a two-day strike amid fears that Article 35A, which bars outsiders from owning property or getting jobs in the restive state, will be repealed when the Supreme Court hears a petition on Monday. Trade groups, civil society and other social organisations have come together with separatists and political parties amid fears that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to revoke the provision in an attempt to change the state’s demography. Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik under…

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Tension mounts across Kashmir as hearing on Art 35A nears, Ready to ‘Sacrifice Everything’ for safeguarding Article: Kashmir Inc

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As the petition seeking the repeal of Article 35A is coming up for hearing in the Supreme Court next week, Kashmir has been gripped by tension. Separatist groups, mainstream parties, traders and business bodies have threatened to launch an agitation if the Act was tinkered with. The possibility of a repeal of Article 35A — which grants special privileges and rights to the permanent residents of J&K and debars non-residents from buying land or property, getting government jobs, or voting in the Assembly elections in the state — has evoked…

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Sajad Lone holding trump card in J&K govt formation?

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Peoples Conference has ‘support’ of 15 disgruntled PDP leaders With the PDP facing an existential crisis and the National Conference (NC) trying hard to hold on to its legislators, both the regional parties are fearing a threat in Sajad Gani Lone’s Peoples Conference, which has two MLAs. With PDP legislators showing open defiance against the party and NC leader Omar Abdullah repeatedly seeking dissolution of the Legislative Assembly to keep his flock together, Lone is holding all his cards close to his chest and not giving a whiff to the…

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‘You don’t need any security as you are our guests’: Hizb welcomes Amarnath pilgrims

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Two days ahead of the beginning of the annual Amarnath yatra, the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group in Kashmir has apparently said it has no plans to attack the pilgrimage. An audio message believed to be from Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Riyaz Ahmad Naikoo sought to assure pilgrims that they could go on the yatra this year even without security cover. “You don’t need any security as you are our guests,’’ Naikoo said in the 15-minute audio clip being circulated on social media. It also stated Kashmiri Pandits who migrated from…

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